keep it lean - tcuk 2015

KEEP IT

LEAN

USING ”KANBAN TOC”

MATTIAS SANDER

WWW.TECHWRITINGENGINEER.COM

WHO AM I?

• M Sc in Industrial Manufacturing and Management

• Senior technical writer at SimCorp, a financial services

software company.

• Passionate about Lean and automation

• Blog at www.techwritingengineer.com

• Find me at @mattiassander

• From Malmö, Sweden (Go Malmö FF!)

WHAT IS LEAN?

“The core idea is to maximize

customer value while minimizing

waste.”

“Lean means creating more value

for customers with fewer resources.”

WHAT IS LEAN?

”Each individual employee is given

the opportunity to find problems in

his own way of working, to solve

them and to make improvements. ”

WHAT IS LEAN?

Build people, then build products!

Challenge the status quo!

WHY SHOULD WE AS

TECHWRITERS CARE?

Use “Lean thinking” to

Get more (important) things done, with less

effort

Add more customer value

Reduce waste

Improve your processes

TELL ME MORE ABOUT LEAN!

• What are the Lean principles?

• How can I use Lean tools?

• What about the science?

• How do I get started?

LEAN PRINCIPLES

• Define value

• Identify the value stream

• Challenge all the wasted steps

• Make your product flow continuously

• Strive towards perfection

DEFINE VALUE FROM YOUR

CUSTOMERS’ PERSPECTIVE

What is your customer willing to pay for?

Great

instructions! I Can’t use

this...

1. ABCD

2. EFGH

3. IJKLM

4. NOPQR

IDENTIFY YOUR PRODUCT AND THE

VALUE STREAM

WORK ITEM/PRODUCT

• New software feature

• Release notes

• Context-sensitive help

• Supporting topics

VALUE STREAM/PROCESS

1. Design

2. Write

3. Review

4. Edit

5. Package

6. Test

VALUE STREAM (REAL)

Do stuff

Wait Do

stuff Wait

Do stuff

FIND AND CHALLENGE

ALL THE WASTED STEPS

Do stuff

Wait Do

stuff Wait

Do stuff

VALUE STREAM (IDEAL)

Do stuff

CREATE FLOW

• Introduce single-piece flow, and

stop doing batch work.

• Pull work from the previous step

when you have available resources.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s2VdtYw-g0

WHAT IS FLOW ANYWAY?

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE INTRODUCE VARIATION INTO A

HIGHLY RESOURCE EFFICIENCT SYSTEM?

BATCH WORK IS THE ENEMY OF FLOW

Don’t waste time on context-switching!

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

1 2 3 4 5

Available time

Lost time

STRIVE TOWARDS PERFECTION

MAKE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTS

Never stop thinking of ways to improve the process.

KAIZEN

Improve the

work

Deliver

value

LET’S TALK ABOUT TOOLS!

• Tools for finding waste and problems

• The 8 wastes framework

• 5S – organisation and visualisation

• Kanban - visualisation

• Tools for reducing waste and solving problems

• 5 Whys – finding the root cause

• A3 Problem Solving – developing countermeasures

THE 8 WASTES

TIM

WOODS

TRANSPORTATION

INVENTORY

MOTION

WAITING

OVER-PROCESSING

OVER-PRODUCTION

DEFECTS

UNUSED SKILLS

TRANSPORTATION

• Converting formats

• Disconnection from SMEs

• ...

INVENTORY

• Backlog of e-mails

• Lots of topics in progress

• ...

MOTION

• Task switching

• Searching

• Interruptions

• ... Whaaaaazzz

aaaaa!?

Oh No... Not

again...

Where did I

put that E-

mail...?

WAITING

• Waiting for reviews

• Waiting for edits

• Waiting for work

• Waiting for approvals

• ...

OVERPROCESSING

• Doing more than the customer wants

• Re-entering data

• ...

IS SPELL-CHECKING

OVERPROCESSING?

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch, it deosn't mttaer in

waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny

iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be

at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses

and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs

is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed

ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

OVERPRODUCTION

• Writing more than your users want or need

• Unnecessary data

• ...

DEFECTS

• Inaccurate or incomplete topics

• Topics not appropriate for the target audience

• ...

UNUSED SKILLS

• Not being all that you can be

• ...

Bla bla

bla bla I gotta get

out of

here...

WHY FOCUS ON WASTE?

Focusing on improving value-adding

work means you have to think of how

to make already working things better.

Focusing on waste is really about

fixing what bugs you, and that comes

naturally to most people.

5S

5S is the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese English words:

• Sort

• Straighten

• Shine

• Standardize

• Sustain

BENEFITS OF 5S

• Helps you find things and

information faster

• Helps you discover abnormalities

and waste

5S AT ALCATRAZ

5S - WARNING

5S does not mean you should shackle yourself to a pointless

standard:

KANBAN

Visual signals to facilitate flow, introduce ”pull”, and limit inventory levels.

• It’s a communication system.

• It’s a continuous improvement tool.

BATTERY KANBAN

TP KANBAN

KANBAN FOR KNOWLEDGE WORK

WHAT ABOUT THE SCIENCE BEHIND

LEAN?

• Resource efficiency vs Flow efficiency

• Queueing theory

RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

dr

FLOW EFFICIENCY

FOCUS ON

THE PATIENT

NOT THE DOCTOR

CAN’T YOU HAVE BOTH?

Reso

urc

e e

ffic

ien

cy

Flow efficiency

Low High

Lo

w

Hig

h

STANDARDISE, FTW!

• Use checklists

CHECKLISTS

Don’t try to remember everything.

Write it down in the form of

checklists.

Doesn’t mean you’re not skilled, just

that you’re human.

THE CHECKLIST

MANIFESTO

dr

Did I wash my

hands...?

http://www.who.int/patientsafety/safesurgery/checklist/en/ Author: Atul Gawande

QUEUEING THEORY

• What is queueing theory?

• Kingman’s formula

• Little’s law

WHAT IS QUEUEING

THEORY?

”Queueing theory is the mathematical study of

waiting lines, or queues.”

KINGMAN’S EQUATION

𝐸 𝑊𝑞 ≈𝜌

1 − 𝜌

𝑐𝑎2 + 𝑐𝑠

2

2𝜏

Resource efficiency

Waiting time

Cycle time

Input variation

Process variation

VARIATION MAKES YOU WAIT

RESOURCE EFFICIENCY MAKES YOU

MORE SENSITIVE TO VARIATION

LITTLE’S LAW

𝐿 = λ ×𝑊

Work-items in progress

Cycle time

Waiting time

LITTLE’S LAW

• Reduce lead time by

• Reducing cycle time by

reducing waste

• Limiting Work-In-Progress

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

Kanban TOC is a nice starting point:

• Visual value-stream mapping

• Work item standardisation

• Problems become clear

WHAT’S A KANBAN TOC?

A table-of-contents with all the steps of your value-stream for

a given type of work item, for example, a documentation set

for a new software feature.

SET UP A KANBAN TOC

(Define value from your customer’s perspective)

1. Define your work-items/products

2. Map your value stream to a table-of-

contents

3. Find problems. Make improvements!

DEMO IN MADCAP FLARE

(UH-OH!)

PLEASE ASK

QUESTIONS!

LOOKING FOR TROUBLE?

• 5 Whys

• A3 Problem Solving

5 WHYS

Get to the root cause of a

problem by asking ”Why?”.

The number 5 is not important, it

might as well be 3 or 15!

5 WHYS - EXAMPLE

The vehicle will not start. (the problem)

• Why? - The battery is dead. (first why)

• Why? - The alternator is not functioning. (second why)

• Why? - The alternator belt has broken. (third why)

• Why? - The alternator belt was well beyond its useful

service life and not replaced. (fourth why)

• Why? - The vehicle was not maintained according to the

recommended service schedule. (fifth why, a root cause)

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys)

A3 PROBLEM SOLVING

A6 PROBLEM SOLVING

THE ART OF CHANGING

HABITS

Lean thinking and continuous

improvement is all about

changing your habits.

Let’s turn to the science...

THE POWER OF HABIT

1) Cue

2) Routine

3) Reward

Author: Charles Duhigg

TINY HABITS

Mo

tivati

on

Ability

Hard Easy

Lo

w

Hig

h

Triggers fail here

Triggers succeed here

Behavior = Motivation x Ability x Trigger

BJ Fogg

• www.tinyhabits.com

• After I [anchor] I will

[new tiny behavior]

CALL TO ARMS!

@MattiasSander

www.techwritingengineer.com

mattias.sander@gmail.com

QUESTIONS?